Tuesday, June 15, 2010

our tour guide at the windmill

Our tour guide was a retiree who is part of this group of volunteers who support the windmill. He loved this windmill and was very happy to teach us the mechanics of the mill, the history of the city, and much detail about the polders and the construction and deconstruction of these windmills. I was most surprised to learn that all over Holland, they would deconstruct and relocate windmills when they were no longer needed in one location. How efficient is that. And, no screws, nails or other hardwared are used, only beams with wooden pegs, to make it possible for the windmill to "move" without breaking. Very cool.